


Memories long forgotten

by Firekittylol



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, Pale Jester AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:20:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,687
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27825925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Firekittylol/pseuds/Firekittylol
Summary: This is a Fanwork for Chipper_Smol's Pale Jester AU, If you haven't heard of it please check it out! You can find Chip of Twitter and Tumblr!The lady looked down at him, “My beloved Wyrm, is that you? You feel different, I could barely recognize you.”His hand gripped the charm half so tight that pale blood spilled from his palm, ‘My Root’ his heart wanted him to say, what was this?His heart pounded against his chest, body shaking, eyes wide behind that mask. Who is this? Why is she so familiar? Why does he feel the need to run, to flee, to get as far away from here as possible lest he bring harm to her? His breath hitched, and became shallow, erratic, panicked. He turned on his heels to find Hornet and Hollow behind him, suddenly their faces brought him so much pain, pain who’s origins he couldn’t place.
Relationships: The Pale King/White Lady (Hollow Knight)
Comments: 21
Kudos: 67





	Memories long forgotten

Red mist spilled out of the open curtains as Deepnest’s princess and her sibling, the newly freed Hollow Knight, now just Hollow, stepped, stumbled in Hollow’s case, into the tent of the Grimm Troupe. Hornet promptly ignored anyone who spoke to her, and her elder sibling, being more polite, gave those who greeted them a wave or nod, they were here for a specific purpose, and had no reason to daly. 

Across the room the Pale Jester stood, humming a song while watching them approach, such a determined glint in the eyes of those two, such stubbornness, only the gods know where they got it from. He watched then stop in front of him, and he greeted, “Hello! Are you--”

He was promptly cut off by Hornet, “Can it, clown.” She sighed when Hollow put their hand on her shoulder, and spoke again, “Come with us, there’s something we want you to see.”

“Oh! An adventure! How fun! Though I’m not sure Master would like my leaving.” He laughed, Hornet gave him a frustrated look, “Goodness, someone's testy today.” He jumped back to the subject at hand, “I suppose I could go with you! As long as I’m back before Master notices.”

“Good.” Hornet grabbed his arm and practically dragged him out of the tent, Hollow following behind and desperately signing for their sister to be gentle, and being ignored. 

Entering the crossroads, navigating past broken platforms, down into greenpath, past thorns and acidic waters, down into the Fog Canyon, with the Jester becoming ever more uncomfortable as they went, each place being so familiar, and so distant. He started pulling against Hornet to free his arm only to be promptly told that they were at their destination yet, and to stop being difficult. 

It started to look like greenpath again, but it wasn’t, he started moving ahead of the group, his legs remembered this place, as did his heart. He unconsciously clutched the charm half in the pocket of his lower right sleeve. 

“You know this place?” Hornet asked, she knew he did, deep down he knew, he was still in there somewhere.

“No!” He laughed, “I’d say that it’s just Luck that I haven’t fallen into those bubbling pools yet!” He leaped to another platform, and as it collapsed under his feet he was already landing on the one above him, “Haha! How fun!”

When the other two caught up to him they were just a few feet from their destination, that black, or dark grey, building with those glowing white strands peeking out of it, the Jester stood stiff, eyes focused on the corpse that lay in front of the door. 

“oh...Dryaa...no…” The smallest hint of a red glow came from the right side of his chest, he blinked, looked up, “Ah! Is this it?” he looked at the building

Hornet and Hollow had seen, but knew not to address it, he didn’t remember it. Hollow signed to him, ‘Yes,’ then thought and signed more, ‘But what we want to show you is inside.’

“Then what are we standing out here for?” He said in that painfully cheerful voice, “Let us continue on!” He was through the door before he could be stopped, and the two siblings ran after him.

Inside was a woman, tall, glowing, roots floating upwards and spreading like hair, she looked so elegant, and so familiar. The Jester’s heart fluttered, beating with warmth and love, what was this feeling? Why did he feel so happy? Why was he hurting? What was causing this beautiful sadness? 

The lady looked down at him, “My beloved Wyrm, is that you? You feel different, I could barely recognize you.”

His hand gripped the charm half so tight that pale blood spilled from his palm, ‘My Root’ his heart wanted him to say, what was this? 

His heart pounded against his chest, body shaking, eyes wide behind that mask. Who is this? Why is she so familiar? Why does he feel the need to run, to flee, to get as far away from here as possible lest he bring harm to her? His breath hitched, and became shallow, erratic, panicked. He turned on his heels to find Hornet and Hollow behind him, suddenly their faces brought him so much pain, pain who’s origins he couldn’t place. 

“N..no..no...s-stay away..” he backed up, what was happening?

“Fath--”

“No. No! Get away!” he needed to leave.

“Beloved,” The White lady leaned forward, “It’s okay, everything is okay.”

“NO!” He was in a defensive stance, trying to get away from them, “STAY AWAY!” Too much, it was too much, there was too much, the Nightmare Heart tried, and failed, to subdue him, to repress the overwhelming amount of emotions that flooded the Jester. Panicking and trapped, trapped, he’s trapped, he-- (the red glow grew) “STOP IT! STOP! Please…”

The White Lady reached out, her face full of concern, and when she was about to lay a comforting hand on his shoulder,

“GET AWAY!” He swiped at her hand with his claws, and upon releasing what he’d done, “no..nononono...i’m sorry..i didn’t mean too…” 

Between her shock and the horrified and worried looks of the siblings, he backed away from them, slowly, shaking and overwhelmed, “i..i didn’t…” more foreign feelings came flooding in, like he’s been in this situation before, like--

“Jester!” The Nightmare King had arrived, in a dramatic puff of red smoke, “Calm yourself, Jester.”

“Master--”

“Worry not, Jester. I can take you back to the troupe and we can erase this experience-”

“Erase?” The Pale Jester asked, the anger hit him, “Erase?! I don’t want to erase this!” he was in tears now, “I won’t let you erase it! I won’t let you erase me!” His body glowed bright and pale, the phantom of his wings flaring out.

Things were getting out of hand, and so the Nightmare King acted, moving quickly behind the jester and using the Jester’s own staff to land a hard blow on the back of his head, effectively rendering him unconscious. When the Jester fell to the ground the soul faded, and the charm half fell from his hand, staining the ground with his glowing white blood. This action brought concerned and fearful silence to the room. The Nightmare King picked up the unconscious wyrm, throwing him over a shoulder, leaving the Kingsoul Half on the ground. 

Hollow went and picked it up, gently cleaned it off and tried to hand it to the Nightmare King, to give back to their father. 

“No.” The Nightmare King said, “That thing has caused enough suffering as it is.”

Hollow tried again, and became upset when the Nightmare King once again refused, ‘But why?’ they signed, ‘It is father’s, it represents mother, he should have it back, he will be upset if he does not have it back.’

“No, Hollow Knight, It will be better if he does not keep it.”

‘It belongs to him.’ 

“No.” He didn’t let Hollow respond, or try again to give the Kingsoul half back to the Jester, he teleported back to the troupe tent in a puff of smoke, and no one would know till later, but the Nightmare King would erase the fallen king’s memory of the event.

\-------

It had only been a day or two since then, the new Shade Lord, the youngest of the siblings, Ghost, had been out collecting Nightmare flames for the Grimmchild, and was very quickly informed of what happened when they saw their siblings again the day after the Pale Jester’s breakdown. They had listened to Hornet rant, and accepted the Kingsoul half when Hollow had very gently signed for them to return it to their father, and they would keep their promise, going to the troupe the next morning. It was odd, there was no accordion music, no one standing outside like usual, and the Grimmchild whined, upset by the lack of festivity. 

When they entered the tent they found everyone inside, and it seemed normal enough, people talking, eating their lunches (as even they needed nutrients), and practicing acts, but the Jester was not there, neither were Grimm or Brumm. They kept walking, they had come here on a mission after all, to the back rooms of the tent, past the crowds, to the troupe member’s rooms. They walked past each door until they came upon the Jester’s room, and heard sobbing and comforting whispers inside.

They opened the door, or curtain, striding into the room, the Jester was there, sobbing into Brumm’s fluffy outfit, clutching the fabric so hard it had torn, the musician just making gentle shushing sounds, doing his best to comfort the extremely upset Jester. Grimm stood not far off, muttering about what could’ve possibly made him this upset, and prodding at the large, bruised over crack on the back of the Pale Jester’s head. None of them noticed Ghost until they were on the bed, squeezing between Brumm and the Jester, who had pushed himself away from Brumm to greet the little one, though he didn’t really have the energy for such a thing. 

The jester just found himself staring tiredly downward, trying to muster the energy to say something, only to find the Grimmchild had curled up in his lap, and Ghost hugging his side while slipping the Kingsoul Half into his sleeve pocket. 

It didn’t take long for Grimm to tell them all that it may be best to leave and let the Jester rest for now, and even though both the troupe leader and musician had left, Ghost and the Grimmchild had stayed, but did let the Jester adjust to that he was lying comfortably on his side while the child curled up right against his chest. Ghost, still sitting on the bed, signed, asking what had happened, they knew, but they needed to hear it from him.

“I can’t…” he was beginning to fall asleep, exhausted by the past few days, ‘I can’t seem to recall…” and that was the last thing he said before closing his eyes and letting sleep take him.

**Author's Note:**

> I felt the need to hurt him, I'm sorry 
> 
> Oh, and a friend of mine of Discord helped come up with some of the ideas for this! 
> 
> Here are some Links to make things easier!  
> Chip's Tumblr: https://chipper-smol.tumblr.com  
> Chips Twitter: https://twitter.com/Chipper_Smol


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